Gaza City/Cairo - A senior Palestinian official announced that rival Hamas and Fatah movements agreed to hold the presidential and legislative elections on January 25, reports said on Thursday.

There is an agreement to hold the elections early next year, and not to postpone it under any circumstances, the pan-Arab daily al- Hayyah quoted Yasser al-Wadeya, the head of the delegation of the independent Palestinian figures, as saying.

"Leaders of all Palestinian factions will be in Cairo on August 25 for a last round of dialogue which will end with the signing on a reconciliation agreement," said al-Wadeya, who was heading a delegation visiting Egypt and several Arab countries this week.

On Sunday, Hamas and Fatah decided to postpone talks on forming a "national unity" government until August 25, instead of convening on July 25 for a seventh round of reconciliation talks.

Al-Wadeya said Cairo wants first to finalize the issue of the political arrests in both Gaza and West Bank within two months after signing the agreement.

Asked about the joint factional committee to coordinate between the Hamas government in Gaza and the Mahmoud Abbas government in the West Bank, he said "the two sides still disagree on the committee."

Hamas has de facto control of the Gaza Strip after routing Fatah forces in 2007 while Fatah forces run the Palestinian government in the West Bank. The two are seeking some kind of unity, a prerequisite for peace talks with Israel. (dpa)